Avo Season - Avo and Sardines on toast

The maid arrived on Sunday bearing a packet that marked the beginning of a new fruit season on the island. A shopping packet filled with about 6 massive, freshly picked and very enticing avocados.

Now, when I was a kid avos were one of those foods that I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. In the same category as broccoli or asparagus. Its only pretty recently that I've been giving them a try again. They're often refered to as a super-food, but I can't remember why right now. Suffice to say that you should eat more avos. Of course, avos themselves don't make their consumption any easier because you can't buy them ripe, and then once they ripen you've got to use them really quickly. So it clearly helps to have an avo tree nearby, that provides you with way more than you could possibly eat yourself.

The recipe dropped into my lap at a perfectly opportune time then. It was probably sometime last week that I stumbled across this recipe from locallemons.com. One serving of Sardine and Avocado Toast. Yes, as you are thinking now, my first thought was how digusting that would be. And that sardines and toast have a special relationship already, and don't need some fancy avo so that they can pretend to be "cuisine". But the recipe stuck in my mind until I was sure I wanted to try it.

Its also very easy to prepare lunchtime food, good for you, and rather yummy.

Brush some pita bread with olive oil and grill until golden and crispy.

Drain a tin of sardines, place in bowl, and mash them.

Scoop half an avo into another bowl, add about a tablespoon of lemon juice, some salt and pepper and also mash.

Spread the mashed sardines on the toasted pita.

Spoon the mashed avo over.

Drizzle a little more olive oil over the top of the whole thing.

Tuck in to the most unusual sandwich you've had in a while.

You can almost feel your body getting healthier by the second, and the last remnants of hangover from last nights shindig drifting away.

Put some Jack Johnson on the stereo, sit back and watch the catamarans come in from their Saturday cruise.

Next comes Easter

So we were sitting at the Yacht club late Sunday morning, having drinks with the out-laws, and discussing how we're going to set the place up for our wedding in August. Despite being pretty suspect to start with, I think we will manage to fit all the guests on the main veranda, which will actually make it a nice venue.

Anyway, as things were slowly starting to get a little tipsy, Vicki's mom kindly informs us that Easter lunch is at the beach cottage every year. (And Vix and I are living at the beach cottage over Easter). I can do a leg of lamb on the weber, and there'll be flagolet, and green beans, and cheesecake, and a starter of some sort. The Vix started to freak, but then we got our heads around it and we started to make sure that the rest of the family weren't going to stuff it up too much ("No, don't worry, we'll do the starters as well, why don't you do the flowers and bring the easter eggs."). There'll be about 20 - 25 people.

Events like this always (for me at least) start with a kind of gung-ho excitement; then later in the day you get this nagging doubt, bordering on absolute terror (picture everyone sitting around the table watching me trying to carve a completely burnt 4 kg block of charcoal that I'm going to try to feed then); then the cycle repeats itself, and I get kind of excited again.

Oh, and its two weekends away, and we've got to spend next weekend moving house. There is no prep time for this one. (hehehe, bring it on!)

So, ladies and gentlemen, the plan ...

(some time passes)...

We were served an absolutely wicked Roast Lamb Shoulder on our recent soiray back to the homelands in Africa. Gorgeously tasty meat, true Jamie Oliver style food, and good family company. Thanks Denzil.

However, this is Easter lunch with a massive contingent of my future spouses extended family - I feel that the presentation of the meat is going to be pretty critical, and the problem with the shoulder was that it fell apart when carved and served. A leg of lamb, or possibly even a crown roast, make for great presentation, and oo-ing and aa-ing when folk see it at the table. A leg also lends itself to the showmanship style of carving at the table which is undoubtedly going to be expected.

Maybe crusted with a mustard, breadcrumb, parmesan and herb crust. Maybe marinaded in onions, garlic, lots of herbs, some wine and olive oil. Maybe try something slightly different and coat it in a spicy mixture of lemon grass, ginger and garlic, lime leaves and lemon juice (although I think I'm trying more for a classic presentation of the banquet this time.)

Side dishes? I shouldn't have asked at the Yacht club. "Flagolet and green beans" - It's just how things are done here. "Can we please have roast potatoes with it?" - says the other expat at the table. I shouldn't have asked. I'm all for the roast potatoes. Maybe the flagolet and green beans can be mixed together in one dish, maybe even the same dish that holds minty peas that I'd like to see added. In any case, I'm sure that's not enough. There are a lot of people coming, and its nice for them to have a little variation.

And a prawn cocktail starter?!? Not again please. Even if they do taste nice, lets try something refreshing.

Then there's the problem of timing the thing. I'm going to have to go to church in the morning, then come home and start the braai. That means that lunch is going to be served really late. That means we have to spend a fair bit of time feeding people before hand (but carefully so that they still have space for the magnificent main course.)

...

I'm going for a walk. I'll keep you informed on progress.

The Perfect Steak Marinade

I think I just achieved perfection! The perfect marinade for braai'd steak.

The recipe comes from a book I got a year or so ago - "Braai" by Biller, Storkey & Kay (Struik Publishing).

Heat a little (15ml) olive oil in a frying pan.

Add a chopped onion;

2 cloves chopped garlic;

15ml chopped fresh ginger;

1 seeded and chopped red chilli.

Fry gently until softened.

Add 340ml coke; 180ml tomato sauce; grated rind of 1 lemon; 30ml lemon juice; 15ml whole grain mustard; 30ml white wine vinegar.

Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Sturing pretty often.

Let cool.

Pour about 250ml of the sauce over the steak, and reserve the remainder for serving.

Refrigerate the marinading steak, covered, overnight (or from Sunday morning until the braai on Sunday afternoon.)

Braai steak, on the beach, with lots of beer or rum for refreshment, good company, sunny weather, kids frollicking in the waves, palm tree swaying peacefully overhead.

Heat the reserved sauce thoroughly before serving with steak, maybe a tuscan salad, and undoubtedly a few beers.

My camera battery is dead now, so no photo's of the sauce, but I'll charge it and take some photos of the beach and braai'ing process later.

Quick Beef and Bell Pepper Stir-Fry

Ahhh, it's time to relax...

I make this recipe all the time, but have to search for it on the net every time I do.

It comes from simplyrecipes.com and, aside from a little bit of prep, is supremely quick to cook. This is how long stir-fry should take to make.

It's a really refreshing salad type of taste - not too saucy, not overcooked. And (in case you care), peppers are packed full of Vitamin C and anti-oxidants, so its good for you too.

Goes like this ...

Ingredients:
Steak (say, 500g of sirloin)
Salt and pepper (freshly ground black pepper, of course)
1 large clove of garlic
Olive oil
2 medium bell peppers (capsicum), one red, one green, sliced into 5mm strips.
Half an onion, sliced lengthwise (root to top)
A dozen cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Method:
Take the steak.
Season well with salt and pepper on both sides.
Rub a clove of crushed garlic onto the above steak.
Wrap in clingwrap, then pound the meat until its quite thin (say 6mm thick)
Leave steak wrapped up while you do the rest of the cooking.

Cook rice or noodles.

Heat some olive oil in a large wok on high heat.
Add onions and peppers, and stir fry until just tender (really only for a minute or two)
Add tomatoes and cook for another minute.
Remove veggies to a bowl and keep warm.

Unwrap the steak and slice into stir-fry sized pieces.

Heat another 2 tbsp of olive oil, until shimmering, but not quite smoking.
Add the strips of beef and let brown for a few seconds without stirring.
Cook for only a minute or two.
Then add the veggies back into the pan, and a tablespoon of worcestershire sauce.

Stir for a minute longer, and serve on a bed of rice or noodles.

Wicked.

Not much food writing

Ok – so the New Year has come and gone – resolutions were made – etc etc. Now it's February.

I had planned to take a food photo every day, to post to a Flickr group, and this was going to give my food blogging a bit of encouragement.

Well, I posted 4 pics to the Flickr group, can’t even remember what the group was called anyway, and haven’t had a blog post here in a very long time.

It’s not that I haven’t been cooking, but maybe I’ve been experimenting quite a bit. Firstly, I have actually built up quite a recipe book over the past few months, and can now spend time making things that have already been made, rather than trying new stuff every night. Oddly, this is actually quite refreshing. Secondly, Wifey has just given up her job to become a full-time mom, so she’s been trying to reclaim ownership of the kitchen. There is definitely a fight brewing on who gets control of the kitchen, but again, it is nice for it not to be my responsibility to cook every night.

 

You see most bloggers stop writing because their lives are suddenly outrageously busy – they have babies, or open restaurants, or something on a similarly grand scale. My story seems to be the opposite. The New Year has brought with it a period of consolidation in our family’s life. Vix can concentrate on being the best mother she can be. We’ll be a little poorer, and so are trying to find a smaller place to live in. And I can concentrate a bit more on my career, as my responsibility in the family is more focussed. Oddly again, but it’s refreshing, and quite exciting.

I am still cooking of course, and trying new recipes fairly regularly. I found a recipe for a warm bean and chorizo salad a few weeks back, which I’ve made twice already, and even served to guests. We had guests for a braai last weekend (or maybe the one before that) and I made prawn skewers with a garlic and lemon baste. Both of these were really successful. There does always have to be some balance in life, and so I tried an avocado remoulade with pan-fried salmon the other day, and it was nearly inedible. Maybe there was some other stuff, and maybe I’ll even post those recipes here, but not today.

And seeing as things are Oddly in this post already – Wifey and I have actually managed to start exercising fairly regularly. The little “about me” thing on your right hand side says that half of the reason of this blogs existence is to chronicle my mission to get my family eating and living healthy. I’m going to hit 30 this year, and so can’t really be a juvenile delinquent for that much longer. So – exercise – so far its only 20 minutes on an exercise bike, plus a few push-ups, but I’m a firm believer that some exercise is infinitely better than none, and also a believer that I need a fair bit of time to remember how my legs work or I’ll end up crippling myself.

 

OK, that’s all I have to say right now.

We’ll speak soon.